We created the Type-OH! games because we wanted interesting and challenging typing games that look and aact like a word processor screen, and because we wanted to create a totally different learning environment that matches the way people actually use computer keyboards. These games are available at any time for additional practice at any point in the lessons. After a lesson sequence has been learned, the games and the Prescription Drills work together to help us detect those slight hesitations that mean trouble when you are composing at the keyboard. Additional practice sessions are available at any time. Selecting Lesson Keys Only automatically limits the game to the keys already learned. This provides unlimited extra practice at any stage in the lessons. Selecting the All Keys mode creates games using the full scope of the keyboard, and also includes a bonus game. Prescription Drills combine with the games to eliminate problem keys. The games are our best source for detecting problem keys and difficult letter combinations. When you are focused on the game, even subtle differences in your typing are much more apparent. Switching back to the Prescription Drills after playing a game sequence automatically focuses your practice sessions on the specific keys and key combinations that are diverting your attention. Burst typing is our name for ultra-fast typing alternated with periods of rest. We create this on-and-off typing mode intentionally in our games. This game environment pushes people beyond what they think are limits of speed and accuracy. They discover that they can express words and even ideas as a single action, without thinking of the keys or the individual letters. This form of typing is often exactly what is needed to break away from the practice of typing with extreme care or at a constant pace. Computer games gave us three popular themes that we combined to create Type-OH! The game alternates between quickly typing falling words before they reach the bottom of the screen and then typing a string of words fast enough to stay ahead of the creature that is munching along behind. Finally, if you have selected all the alphabet keys, a third game appears as a bonus. In this game, the objective is to type and remove words before they fill the screen. Five categories are available in the game: alphabet with easy words, alphabet, punctuation, keyboard numbers, and symbols. The game may be played with all the keys in the category or limited to the keys that have been learned so far in the lessons. This choice allows people to use the games for practice, even though all the keys in a particular category have not been learned. For some students, this break from the lessons is just what is required to maintain interest or to build speed and accuracy before continuing to learn new keys. The scorecard is often used in classes as a kind of competition, with the top students listed on the board, along with their best scores. For students who like computer games and competition in general, Type-OH! can be both challenging and fun. Game Sound Effects may be selected or changed from the main menu. The variety of sound effects is intended to add interest to the games. If the resulting racket is too tempting for some students, the option to select additional sound effects may be turned off. To limit the range of possible sounds in the games, the Ainsworth Keyboard Options program may be used to allow only the Default sounds to be selected.
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